Arranging Financial Affairs

[May 26, 2015] Tuesday

In the spirit of documenting everything pertinent, and to help others who might have questions, I'm going to outline some of my thinking. This may vary from what other, wiser folks would have done, but such is life.

Over the years, I've tried to educate myself about investing, especially in mutual funds. My thinking was probably mostly influenced by advice that I had read on sites like The Motley Fool and others like it. Generally, the advice is to invest in low load mutual funds, and buy with a long term vision. Meaning, not a lot of buying and selling. 

Over the years, I have done this with both my 401k, through Intermountain, and a couple of post-tax funds outside the 401k. As I have looked at retirement, and missions, I realize that I really don't have the time, nor the savvy to adjust the funds to reflect a more conservative mix as I get further into retirement, and I realized that my current diversification strategy was a bit shaky.

For better or for worse, I'm looking into target date mutual funds through T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard to land my 401k/IRA funds, and for the funds derived from the sale of the home and condo in American Fork. From the looks of things right now, with my pension (I know - no longer common, nor is it something my kids will have to fall back on), and considering the cost of living in Bolivia, we're hoping to not have to touch any of the investments for living expenses in the next couple of years. We are debt free, and with Sam holding down the fort at the Condo and paying the basic costs (condo fee, internet, utilities), we should be in a pretty favorable financial position, knock on wood.

Lastly, we're really grateful to have Sam watching out for us back home. We've signed him onto our bank accounts so he could deposit any checks (like refunds for Condo insurance from the AF Condo, or car insurance as we divest the car and truck), make unanticipated payments or ones that we can't take care of on line, or help take care of any business that we'd be stretched to accomplish from Bolivia. It's another blessing to have him around to help us out.

So, time will tell whether I have to return to the world of the employed in two years or if we can continue to pursue our dream of a service oriented retirement.